You dont remember me, but I remember you
by InnerTurmoil
Summary: She watched him as he grew and witnessed his death. He was the most precious thing to her and he didnt even know.


**I know that Haku's mask was broken in the main story but this story wouldnt have been as good if I didn't have the mask in there. Once again I felt like there arent enough Haku stories out there and Ive wanted to write this for quite some time, enjoy!**

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It had been years ago when we were both still children, living in a village where it always snowed, when I first saw Haku. I would see him walking around the village with his mother or father, he had the most innocent and pure smile on his face and a laugh that could only be described as sweet.

I admired him from afar for years, being too shy to come out from behind the buildings and light posts. I had never spoken to him, not a single word. He lived a happy life in the land that had not long before suffered from war. He was so kindhearted, I often saw him feeding the winter rabbits that would pass by his house.

I wanted so badly to walk up to him and say something, anything, but my timidness would always get the best of me and I would just stand there in the cold as I watched him gently pet the small animals. There was a day when I saw him, he appeared to be in a panic looking all around the ground for something and even digging through the snow.

I looked down at my feet to see a tiny blue necklace poking out from the fresh powder that had fallen. I knew that it was what he had been looking for but I couldn't bring myself to give it back, because that would mean getting close to him and talking to him.

My heart had raced at just the thought, I had never meant to take it but I was too scared to give it back. What happened later made me thankful that I had kept it. The next week I saw a group of people moving through town, all of them locals.

I followed them quietly from behind as they neared his home, in the lead was Haku's own father. Following them all the way to his and Haku's home I kept my distance, not long after they had entered the house I heard crying followed by a loud scream and a faint thud.

More people started walking in, they were silent. Within that silence I heard Haku's whimpering and the breaking of fragile objects, as they inched in the doorway his whimpers became louder. I heard loud crashes coming from inside the house, I covered my ears and my eyes.

When I looked back up the house had been skewered by giant spikes that were made of ice, little trickles of dark red fluid were leaking out of the doorway. Moments later I saw Haku slowly walk out of the house then collapse in the snow. My mother and father told me all about these kinds of people, they told me that it was because of them that this country was so poor, that they were to blame for the war and lack of food and warmth.

I stared at Haku, there was no doubt in my mind that he was one of those people. He still lay there facedown in the snow, I heard the sound of people approaching from behind me. His head shot up and he ran for cover, the villagers caught up to me but they weren't fast enough to see him flee.

At first they blamed me for what had happened, they accused me of having the bloodline limit that everyone was so terrified of. As much as it hurt me to do so, I said that it was Haku's mother who had done it, the fact that she was inside the house with the mob was enough to convince them.

I had kept that necklace that I had failed to return to him with me at all times, for it was the one thing that I felt like kept me close to him. Ever since then I had made it my mission to find Haku again and do whatever I could to help him, I ran away from home and began my search. Through so many years I followed him, watched over him. To every town he went to I followed close behind, occasionally acting as the angel that looked over him by leaving him food when he was on the brink of starvation.

Even after he joined Zabuza, the "Demon of the Hidden Mist," I still followed him as he went down the dark path of a shinobi. Even though I had seen him kill countless people, that kindness that I saw in him as a child still remained. His laugh was gone but I could tell that he was happy. Then one day in a small poverty stricken village in the Land of Waves I watched as Haku fought for Zabuza to the death.

Even through the deep mist I watched as the leaf Jonin plunged his attack right through Haku's heart. It happened so fast, one moment Haku is begging for the orange leaf ninja to kill him and then next he was in front of Zabuza, his blood everywhere. I gagged and turned away, it was as if gallons of blood were pouring out of him and onto his enemies.

I was so in shock that I couldn't bring myself to tears, I hated Zabuza, I hated him for letting Haku die in such a way and act like as if he was just an object. It was only when I saw the light reflecting off his tears when I realized that he was hurting just as much as I was, maybe even more. When he had taken down Gato and collapsed I joined in with the crowd that had come from the village, hoping to blend in.

Standing with them I watched as Zabuza said his tearful goodbye to Haku. How desperately I wanted to run over there and do the same but through all these years...I was still as scared as ever. A few weeks later I found myself standing at both their graves on the high cliff the leaf ninja buried them on.

Zabuza's grave has his sword behind it and Haku's had his obi wrapped around the cross and mask at the base. I picked up Haku's mask and held it in my hands, I noticed small little drops of water that appeared near the eye slits and on the forehead...I realized that they were my tears. They were dripping off my face and on to the mask.

_I won't allow my shyness to get in my way anymore!_

I thought to myself clenching my jaw. I took Haku's mask with me as I walked away from their graves. Through the next month or so I gathered everything I needed right down to the Hidden Mist headband which was the hardest to obtain. I found an abandoned house on the outskirts of a small town not far from the village where they were buried.

I put on the standard Hidden Mist pinstripe uniform underneath the green haori with the off-white trim. I tied my hair into a bun holder and let the rest hang down. I clipped on the metal hair cuffs and tied the headband onto my forehead. The next day I returned to their graves, the necklace in one hand and Haku's mask in the other. Here I stand in front of him, after all these years this was not how I imagined finally speaking to him. I sat on my knees and stared at the cross.

"Hello Haku, you probably dont remember me but..." i stopped myself for a moment to realize how rediculous that sounded.

"Ha, of course you wouldnt remember, you've never even seen me. I don't know why I chased you after all these years, I barely even knew you. I watched as you suffered and I didn't do anything about it." I let my head hang down between my arms that were placed firmly on my knees. I felt my tears pushing their way out of my eyes,

"I wanted to talk to you so bad, I wanted to be by your side even if you didn't want me. You said how you weren't needed until Zabuza came along, but I needed you. You despised living without a purpose but it was just by you living that gave _me_ purpose." I was starting to get choked up, I wiped away the tears that were streaming down my face.  
"And now that you're gone, I have found another purpose."

I stood up with both the objects still in my hand.

"It was war that caused all of your suffering, it was war that caused people to fear your gift. So I have made it my goal to find peace in this world in any way possible, I want to prevent what happened to you to happen to others."

I lifted my hand and placed the necklace over the cross.

"Im sorry it took so long for me to return this to you. Through everything that happened since we were kids I kept it with me, it got me out of a lot of difficult situations."

She paused.

"I had always loved you Haku, ever since we were kids and now..."

I placed Haku's mask on my face. If you saw me then it would have seemed like Haku came back from the dead, I was slightly smaller in height but the effect would be the same.

"I will fight for you, because you are the person that's the most precious to me."


End file.
